Deepesh Giri Imagine working in a factory standing up, putting your hand in hot water, and removing silk from silkworms for 13-14 hours. This was what the life of women and children in silk factories were during the Industrial Revolution in Japan. The Industrial Revolutions began in the 1800s it made producing goods like cloth faster and cheaper with the invention of machines. In Japan it did not arrive till 1868. In 1868 industrialization began because in that year Japan had new leaders who wanted to catch up with the west economically and militarily. The costs of the industrial revolution outweighed the benefits for the women; they had to work long hours, were trapped in the factories, and had little to no personal time. First of all, Women in silk factories had to work long hours. In document B it states that normal working hours in Okaya was 13-14 hours. They would work from 4:30 am to 7:30 pm. They did not have work straight from 4:30 am to 7:30 pm. They got short breaks 15 minutes for breakfast and another 15 for lunch and only 10 minutes for a break. On busy days the workers would be kept till 10 pm. These crazy work time compared to today (8-12 hours) is for sure a long time to have to work. Continuing on, women were trapped in the factories. In Document E it shows a contract that parents might fill out to send their …show more content…
In Document B the women in the okaya plant got about 8 hours of free time since they worked from 4:30 in the morning to 7:30 at night. The eight hours they did get would have to be used to sleep. The eight hours of free time is only if the plant was not busy if it was busy they would get only 6 hours since work was from 4:30 am to 10:00 pm. Than for every two weeks the workers worked they got only 1 holiday day off. Also in japan there were no weekends so these people would work everyday till a holiday arrived. Clearly 8 hours of free time is not much as much of it is going to be used to